The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has fined a contractor nearly $24,000 for safety violations that led to the death of a worker removing printing press equipment at the Allentown Morning Call.

Britton Services Inc., which is headquartered in Illinois, also has an Allentown location.

In May, an employee, identified in published reports as 32-year-old Ruben Ocasio-Fernandez, was working for the machinery installation contractor when he was moving a Goss Metroliner newspaper press.

According to the OSHA report, he was checking to ensure that all hoses and cables had been disconnected from the press when the press fell from its rigging crushing him and he was killed.

In its violation detail, OSHA said employees were using swivel bolts for the move that were not correctly rated, sized, and torqued, to suspend the press from a crane.

The printing machine was being moved because the newspaper had moved its printing operations off site.

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Stacy Wescoe

Writer and online editor Stacy Wescoe has her finger on the pulse of the business community in the Greater Lehigh Valley and keeps you up-to-date with technology and trends, plus what coworkers and competitors are talking about around the water cooler — and on social media.
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